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Researchers at the University of Delaware have recently released a groundbreaking study that suggests a that “preschool spatial experiences” as well as executive functioning skills “may play a central role in children's mathematical skills around the time of school entry.”

The team found that types of play that require children to visualize how objects fit together and which allow them to practice these skills via “spatial assembly activities” (play with blocks and puzzles) can actually help to develop these skills.

While the researchers stopped short of saying that spatial experiences have a causal link to later mathematic success, they do strongly suggest that spatial intelligence and spatial reasoning are, at a minimum, strongly correlated with later mathematical ability and that providing rich early spatial experiences is something that should be promoted in preschool and beyond.